Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth Betting Tips: The Tricky Trees to hold strong

Nottingham Forest kick-off the new Premier League season against Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth looking to win their first game in front of the City Ground faithful for the third season in a row.

Conversely, Bournemouth have lost each of the previous two opening away games in the Premier League so will want to avoid an unwanted hat-trick when they take on Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.

New boys to add to Nuno’s attack

Forest have added flair to their attack during the pre-season, signing Elliot Anderson from Newcastle for £35m. The midfielder didn’t get much of a crack at it on Tyneside but for that fee, he will feature plenty for his new side.

They’ve also recruited Portuguese forward Jota Silva from Portuguese top-flight side Vitoria. Dubbed the ‘Portuguese Jack Grealish’ he could well be the player to get the fans off their seats and win a game with a moment of magic.

These arrivals will complement the existing talents in the midfield and attack. The team was already above average in these positions with Callum Hudson-Odoi, Anthony Elanga, Chris Wood, and talisman Morgan Gibbs-White. They are pretty lethal on the counter-attack with Wood able to hold up the ball and play or flick on to the speedsters around him.

Cherries to have the ball but fail to make it count

As Bournemouth showed last season, they play a possession-rich and open style of play and I expect a similar game plan on show Saturday. This style of play does leave them vulnerable at the back and this is something which I feel Forest will look to exploit at every opportunity.

There is also the huge gap to fill left by Dominik Solanke. The forward scored 19 goals in the league last campaign, which equated to 35% of their total goals. That does not bode well given Bournemouth had the joint 5th worst defence last season, conceding 67 goals from their 38 games. They shipped 39 goals in their 19 away fixtures, an average of over 2 goals per game.

Forest proved last season at home under Espirito Santo that they like to play with a high intensity and aggressive tempo from the first whistle and were also prepared to shoot on sight. They averaged 13.37 shots per match at home during the 23/24 season. That style of play worked as they gained 56% of their total points for the season on home soil last campaign.

Don’t overcomplicate matters

There is a clear contrast between the way these two will start the season in terms of morale and squad depth due to their summer transfer business points towards a Forest win. So do the stats from last season in terms of performances at home vs the leaky defence of Bournemouth away.

The final cherry on the cake, pardon the pun, is the loss of Solanke. Seeing Forest available at 7/5 with Unibet looks like must-bet material as I made this much closer to an 11/10 shot.

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Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth Best Bet

Best Bet

• Market: 1X2
• Selection: Nottingham Forest
• Odds: 7/5
• Stake: 1pt
• Bookie: Unibet

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